BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

Games Hospitals Play: Decoding Your Private Healthcare Experience
By Abantika Ghosh (Tulika Books, 2025)

Discussants: Jairam Ramesh, Rajya Sabha MP (TBC); Dr V K Paul, former member, Niti Aayog, Dr Randeep Guleria, former director, AIIMS (TBC); Dr Raj Shankar Ghosh, senior Advisor, Public Health Foundation of India; Dr Sumit Ray, Medical Director, Holy Family Hospital; C K Mishra, former health secretary; Abantika Ghosh, Journalist and Author of the book
 

Still Exceptional? India's Democracy in Comparative and Historical Perspective

Speaker: Ashutosh Varshney, leading political scientist and Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences, Professor of Political Science, Watson School of International and Public Affairs and Department of Political Science at Brown University

Moderator: Ms Yamini Aiyar, Senior Visiting Fellow, Brown University; former President and Chief Executive of the Centre for Policy Research and the founder of the Accountability Initiative at CPR

India’s democratic experiment has historically defied conventional theories by sustaining robust electoral, institutional, and civic practices despite deep diversity, economic challenges, and periodic stress. Does that democratic exceptionalism still exist? This talk situates India’s democratic evolution in global comparative history, examining its historically grounded  resilience but deepening current fragilities
 

Calm Waters, Rising Tide: Stability as the Foundation for Indian Ocean Growth

Speaker: Mahishini Colonne, High Commissioner, High Commission of Srilanka to India

Chair: Dr Ashok Behuria, Chairman, Centre for Peace Studies, New Delhi 
 

The talk will explore the strategic significance of the Indian Ocean in shaping regional peace, security and cooperation, while examining the shared challenges and opportunities facing countries in the region. It will also reflect on the importance of dialogue, diplomacy and collaborative approaches in fostering a stable and peaceful neighborhood.

(Collaboration: Centre for Peace Studies)
 

The Iran- US MOU: Implications and Complications

Chair: Amb. K.P. Fabian, Professor, Indian Society of International Law, New Delhi and Symbiosis University, Pune

Speaker: Amb Ramachandran Swaminathan, Former Ambassador to Egypt; Col Rajeev Agarwal, Senior Research Consultant, CRF,Delhi and Author of book ‘Between Tehran and Tel Aviv-Gaza’s Story of Unending war’.

The session will examine the geopolitical and economic implications of the proposed Iran–US agreement, its potential to reshape the strategic landscape of West Asia, and its impact on regional stability. It will also discuss the significance of developments such as the Strait of Hormuz, Chabahar Port, the International North–South Transport Corridor, and India's energy and strategic interests.

Book Discussion Group  

Line of Illumination (A book of poems)

By Sushri Sangita Mishra (Authorspress 2025)

Chair: K. Jayakumar, Poet, Author, Artist, Lyricist & President, Poetry Society (India)

Discussants: Dr. Amarendra Khatua, Former Secretary, MEA & DG, IICR & Poet; Rachna Joshi, Writer & Poet; Mandira Ghosh, Poet, Researcher, Educator & Writer; Sushri Sangita Mishra, Poet, Writer, Corporate Executive, Senior Fellow, MOC, GoI & Author of the book

MOUNTAIN DIALOGUES

Fit at 60

Key Speaker: Rajesh Kalra, a digital media pioneer, sports administrator, and an endurance cyclist, who has served on the PM’s Olympic Task Force and various national sports committees.

Chair: Brigadier Ashok Abbey, a veteran mountaineer with over four and a half decades of climbing experience in the Great Ranges.

On 28 August 2025, his 60th birthday, Rajesh Kalra cycled to Umling La in Ladakh, the world's highest motorable road at 19,024 feet. An experienced long-distance cyclist and a trained mountaineer, he shares the challenges of riding at extreme altitude and reflects on endurance, adventure, and pushing personal limits. The feat has been accepted for inclusion in the Limca Book of Records.

(Collaboration: Himalayan Club and the Himalayan Environment Trust)
 

Clean Air Dialogues

Addressing Sources of Air Pollution

Tackling Re-suspended Dust from Roads and Construction Sites

Welcome & Introduction: Sarika Panda, Raahgiri Foundation

Moderator: Nidhi Madan, Director – Cities and Urban Landscape, Raahgiri Foundation                                 Discussants: Dr. S.D. Attri, Member (Technical), CAQM; Dilkhush Meena, Deputy Commissioner

Karolbagh Zone; Sumit Sharma, Deputy Head (a.i.), Programme Officer, UNEP, India Office; Anumita Roychowdhury, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)

This session will examine one of the most significant and visible contributors to particulate pollution in the NCR road and construction dust. Re-suspended dust from vehicular movement, unpaved shoulders, and construction activities accounts for a substantial share of the region’s PM₁₀ and PM₂.₅ load. The discussion will move from macro-level policy to on-ground realities, covering street design, material science, infrastructure management, and enforcement of dust suppression measures.

This is the second discussion in a series of dialogues exploring the multifaceted challenges of air pollution, bringing together perspectives from science, policy, health, and civil society.

(Collaboration: Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), Raahgiri Foundation)

 

LIVING LANDSCAPES
Conceptualized by Anuj Srivastava

Mangar Bani: The Sacred Native Forest of the Aravalis

Speaker: Sunil Harsana, Researcher, Conservationist

The talk will be followed by a panel discussion
Moderator: Anuj Srivastava, Architect, Writer and Photographer

Discussants:  Amit Yadav, Ex-Civil Servant, Nature lover, Photographer; Neha Sinha, Conservationist and Author of Wild Capital

Nestled in the ancient Aravali hills along the Delhi–Haryana border, Mangar Bani is a sacred forest and archaeological landscape of immense ecological and cultural significance. Sunil Harsana of Mangar has been at the forefront of conservation efforts, with vital community involvement, to save this vital native forest. In this talk, he shares his inspiring and deeply personal journey of conservation — a story of resilience, collective action, and hope for endangered ecosystems everywhere.

(The seventh talk in the Series on Living Landscapes)
 

Moving Away from Nehru: The Consequences

Moderator: Praveen Davar,  Former Army officer, former Member National Commission for Minorities (NCM), columnist and author.

Discussants:  Salman Khurshid, former Minister of External Affairs; Amb.K. P. Fabian, Professor, Symbiosis University and Indian Society of International Law ; Mridula Mukherjee, Indian historian ; Apoorvanand, Professor at the Hindi Department, Faculty of Arts, University of Delhi

The discussion will reflect on Jawaharlal Nehru’s vision for modern India and examine the social, political and institutional shifts that have emerged in the decades since his time. Bringing together scholars and public intellectuals, the discussion will explore the continuing relevance of Nehruvian ideals in contemporary India.

Memory and Magic: Literature as familial and historical testimony

The House of Spirits

On the novel by Isabel Allende, Chilean-American writer

Discussants: H.E. Mr. Juan Angulo, Ambassador of Chile to India, with concurrent accreditation to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and the Maldives; Mani Shankar Aiyar, Indian politician, former diplomat, and public intellectual; Dr. Vibha Maurya retired as a professor of Hispanic Studies in the Department of Germanic & Romance Studies, University of Delhi; Omair Ahmad, writer and journalist.; and   Prof. Noorin Khan, Professor and In-Charge, Spanish and Latin American Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia

A story where the magical and the political intertwine. In ‘The House of the Spirits’ by Isabel Allende, we follow the Trueba family across several generations in a country shaped by social and political changes. The novel portrays inequality, power struggles and the rise of a dictatorship. Through magical realism, the everyday coexists with the supernatural: spirits, premonitions and unexplained events create a world where the extraordinary feels natural.